Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. The most common cause of cardiovascular disease is myocardial infarction (MI), which occurs when a coronary artery is occluded. Approximately 37% of MI patients will die from heart failure within one year, and of those who do survive, two-thirds do not make a complete recovery. MI results in the death of cardiomyocytes and extracellular matrix (ECM) degradation, followed by scar deposition. Eventually heart failure is onset, and the heart dilates, leading to decreased pumping efficiency. As there are very few cardiac progenitors in the heart, heart tissue does not regenerate. Current treatments for heart failure rely heavily on invasive surgical procedures and do little to repair damaged heart tissue.
Current efforts to prevent heart failure after myocardial infarction (MI) have focused on cellular transplantation to replace necrotic cardiomyocytes, prevent negative left ventricular (LV) remodeling, and regenerate or repair heart tissue. However, without the proper matrix, cardiomyocyte growth in vitro and survival in vivo have been poor. There is a need for a gel or solution form of heart extracellular matrix for cardiac repair, arrhythmia treatment, and cell culture.